The health and welfare effects of environmental governance: Evidence from China.

Environmental regulations aim to reduce pollution and improve air quality and the health of residents. However, there is a lack of research focusing on the health and welfare effects of low-carbon city pilot policies. In this context, this study takes China's low-carbon city pilot policy as an entry point, focuses on the health effects of public environmental governance, and systematically investigates the effects and mechanisms of low-carbon city development on the health of middle-aged and elderly people by applying the difference-in-differences method. The study finds that low-carbon city (LCC) policy significantly improves the physical and mental health of middle-aged and elderly people, and the main transmission mechanism is the reduction in air pollution and improvement in social capital. These results hold following a series of robustness tests. Furthermore, low-carbon city construction can reduce hospitalization and outpatient costs for people over 45 years old by up to 3 % and 15.5 %, respectively. The findings of this study provide useful policy insights for ensuring sustainable improvement in environmental quality and public health.

Ethnic sensitivity assessment: Polatuzumab vedotin pharmacokinetics in Asian and non-Asian patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in POLARIX.

This ethnic sensitivity analysis used data from the phase III POLARIX study (NCT03274492) to assess polatuzumab vedotin pharmacokinetics (PKs) in Asian versus non-Asian patients with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and examined the appropriateness of extrapolating global study findings to Asian patients. PK and population PK (PopPK) analyses assessed polatuzumab vedotin analyte exposures by ethnicity (Asian [n = 84] vs. non-Asian [n = 345] patients) and region (patients enrolled from Asia [n = 80] vs. outside Asia [n = 349]). In patients from Asia versus outside Asia, observed mean antibody-conjugated monomethyl auristatin E (acMMAE) concentrations were comparable (1.2% lower at cycle [C]1 postdose, 4.4% higher at C4 predose; and 6.8% lower at C4 postdose in patients from Asia). Observed mean unconjugated MMAE was lower in patients from Asia by 6.5% (C1 postdose), 20.0% (C4 predose), and 15.3% (C4 postdose). In the PopPK analysis, C6 area under the curve and peak plasma concentrations were also comparable for acMMAE (6.3% and 3.0% lower in Asian vs. non-Asian patients, respectively) and lower for unconjugated MMAE by 19.1% and 16.7%, respectively. By region, C6 mean acMMAE concentrations were similar, and C6 mean unconjugated MMAE concentrations were lower, in patients enrolled from Asia versus outside Asia, by 3.9%-7.0% and 17.3%-19.7%, respectively. In conclusion, polatuzumab vedotin PKs were similar between Asian and non-Asian patients by ethnicity and region, suggesting PKs are not sensitive to Asian ethnicity and dose adjustments are not required in Asian patients to maintain efficacy and safety.

[Source Apportionment and Pollution Assessment of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution Using PMF and RF Model: A Case Study of a Typical Industrial Park in Northwest China].

Based on the concentration data of seven heavy metal elements[As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Hg, Ni, and Cr(Ⅵ)] in the surface soil of a typical industrial park in northwest China, the characteristics of heavy metal pollution in the industrial park were analyzed, and the ecological risk and pollution were evaluated using the potential ecological risk index and the index of geo-accumulation. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and random forest (RF) model were used for quantitative source analysis, and the emission data of sampling enterprises and empirical data of the source emission component spectrum were combined to identify the characteristic elements and determine the emission source category. The results showed that the heavy metals at all sampling points in the park did not exceed the second-class screening value of construction land in the soil pollution risk control standard for construction land (GB 36600-2018). However, compared with the local soil background values, five elements, excluding As and Cr, were enriched in different degrees, presenting slight pollution and moderate ecological risk (RI=250.04). Cd and Hg were the main risk elements of the park. The results of source analysis showed that the five main sources of pollution were fossil fuel combustion and chemical production sources (33.73%, 9.71%, total source contribution rate of PMF and RF, respectively; the same below), natural sources and waste residue landfill (32.40%, 40.80%), traffic emissions (24.49%, 48.08%), coal burning and non-ferrous metal smelting (5.43%, 0.11%), and electroplating and ore smelting (3.95%, 1.30%). The simulation R2 of the total variable of the two models were above 0.96, indicating that the models could predict heavy metals well. However, considering the actual situation of the number of enterprises in the park and roading density, the main pollution sources of soil heavy metals in the park should be industrial sources, and the simulation results of the PMF model were closer to the actual situation in the park.

Exploring the environmental properties and resource utilization of construction waste in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is a capital economic circle for the future. Promoting the coordinated development of its population, economy, resources and environment is a major national strategy. And as towns and cities continue to expand, the volume of construction waste is gradually expanding, posing a major challenge to the sustainable development of the construction industry. In order to solve this problem, this paper used portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to realize the on-site rapid monitoring of heavy metals in construction waste, and the correlation analysis result was R2 = 0.9908. The visualization of enrichment factor evaluation results was realized through ArcGIS. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is mainly polluted by heavy metal elements Cr, Zn, Pb and Hg, showing regional pollution characteristics, and the results of mercury morphology analysis show that all are inorganic mercury pollution, and methylmercury is not detected, and the cause can be traced to heavy industrial production in Tangshan City, which is consistent with industrial ecology. The results of leaching toxicity and cation anion analysis showed that the construction waste in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region had environmental risks to the surrounding surface water and groundwater. The resource treatment and disposal path were determined by means of XRD, ternary phase diagram and oxide composition analysis to avoid secondary pollution. This study explores the environmental properties and resource utilization pathways of construction waste in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, laying the foundation for research work on construction waste in the development of national urban agglomerations, effectively solving regional environmental pollution problems and promoting the sustainable development of the construction industry.

An improved method of using two-dimensional model to evaluate the carrying capacity of regional water resource in Inner Mongolia of China.

The evaluation of regional water resource carrying capacity has been repeatedly conducted to provide a scientific basis for the local water resource management and the sustainable development, in particular in the water-limited regions. However, the definition of regional water resource carrying capacity and its evaluation method are still arguable. Through a case study of Inner Mongolia, located in the arid and semi-arid northern China, this paper developed an improved method to calculate regional water resource carrying capacity by the combination of the water supply-demand analysis and the S-shaped curve threshold analysis. The spatial and temporal patterns of the regional water resource carrying capacity in Inner Mongolia during 2000-2019 was evaluated at three scales, namely the province scale, the basin scale and the city scale. The results showed that the average regional water resource carrying capacity of the whole province was 0.25 (the full mark is 1.00); at the basin scale, the Yellow River Basin had the lowest regional water resource carrying capacity (0.17) among all the basins, showing that the utilization of the water resources was unreasonable; at the city scale, the average regional water resource carrying capacities in Hulunbuir and Xilingol were both over 0.25, while those in Alxa, BayanNur and Wuhai were below 0.1; Hulunbuir had 25.48 billion m3 water surplus, while BayanNur suffered from an average water deficit of 4.51 billion m3 from 2000 to 2019. This paper has provided a reasonable way to measure the regional water resource carrying capacity using an improved method by incorporating S-shaped curve threshold analysis, which may have a wider application for the clustering and optimization of regional water management. In addition, the spatial and temporal patterns of regional water carrying capacity are beneficial for policymakers in the implementation of the effective water usage.

Construction of Low-Cost Z-Scheme Heterostructure Cu2 O/PCN for Highly Selective CO2 Photoreduction to Methanol with Water Oxidation.

Solar-driven CO2 reaction with water oxidation into alcohols represents a promising approach to achieve real artificial photosynthesis. However, rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers seriously restricts the development of artificial photosynthesis. Herein, a facile method is explored to construct low-cost Z-Scheme heterostructure Cu2 O/polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) by in situ growth of Cu2 O hollow nanocrystal on PCN. The protective PCN layer and Z-schematic charge flow can make robust Cu2 O/PCN photocatalysts, and the spatial separation of electrons and holes with high redox potentials of ECB (-1.15 eV) and EVB (1.65 eV) versus NHE can efficiently drive CO2 photoreduction to methanol in pure water, which is further confirmed by DFT calculation. The Z-scheme heterostructure Cu2 O/PCN exhibits a high methanol yield of 276 µmol g-1 in 8 h with ca. 100% selectivity, much superior to that of isolated Cu2 O and PCN, and all the reported Cu2 O-based heterostructures. This work provides a unique strategy to efficiently and selectively promote the conversion of CO2 and H2 O into high-value chemicals by constructing a low-cost Z-scheme heterostructure.

Monitoring and risk assessment of pesticide residue in plant-soil-groundwater systxem about medlar planting in Golmud.

Farm worker and consumers are vulnerable to the potentially toxic pesticides accumulated in the environment and food. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the pesticide pollution and risk in the medlar planting site at a large scale. Hereupon, this study focused on the pesticide contamination distribution, their potential risk assessment of contaminated sites and dietary. The 11 pesticide pollution sources were collected from the five systems of fruit, leaf, soil, groundwater, and honey based on a systematic review in medlar planting site. Seventy-six samples were analyzed by chromatography technique. Residues of 4 (36.7%) compounds were found in the samples. The most distributed pesticides were imidacloprid for all samples, followed by avermectin for leaf, soil, groundwater, and honey, and carbendazim for leaf, glyphosate for soil, and those with the highest average concentrations were carbendazim (3.8-8.4 mg/kg of leaf) and glyphosate (0.21-1.3 mg/kg of soil). The vertical migration characteristic of imidacloprid was relatively stable, and the residual concentration gradually declined with the increase of burial depth. However, glyphosate tended to accumulate gradually or was close to the surface concentration with the increase of burial depth. The distribution of abamectin had no obvious regularity. Imidacloprid was lower than the MRL in fruit and honey. Imidacloprid, avermectin, and glyphosate no MRL in soil and groundwater are set. Using the monitoring data, potential health risk come from fruit, soil, and groundwater was evaluated. The HI and HQ could be considered safe for pesticide residues in fruit, soil, and groundwater. Even if these results are in general safe to eat, the effects of insecticide on human health, especially on genetic toxicity, have gradually aroused more attention. To minimize the increasing human health risk, this study suggests that authorities must regulate the usage of agrochemicals, to strengthen the controls for effective implementation of the pesticide bans.

Analysis of Longitudinal-Ordered Categorical Data for Muscle Spasm Adverse Event of Vismodegib: Comparison Between Different Pharmacometric Models.

Longitudinal-ordered categorical data, common in clinical trials, can be effectively analyzed with nonlinear mixed effect models. In this article, we systematically evaluated the performance of three different models in longitudinal muscle spasm adverse event (AE) data obtained from a clinical trial for vismodegib: a proportional odds (PO) model, a discrete-time Markov model, and a continuous-time Markov model. All models developed based on weekly spaced data can reasonably capture the proportion of AE grade over time; however, the PO model overpredicted the transition frequency between grades and the cumulative probability of AEs. The influence of data frequency (daily, weekly, or unevenly spaced) was also investigated. The PO model performance reduced with increased data frequency, and the discrete-time Markov model failed to describe unevenly spaced data, but the continuous-time Markov model performed consistently well. Clinical trial simulations were conducted to illustrate the muscle spasm resolution time profile during the 8-week dose interruption period after 12 weeks of continuous treatment.

Clinicopathological Parameters Influence Assessment of FDG SPECT in Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To investigate the clinicopathological parameters influencing assessment of FDG SPECT in gastric cancer. METHODOLOGY: The frames of FDG SPECT and clinical data of 105 patients with gastric cancer were collected. The univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the relationship between the visual assessment, SUV(max) and clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: There were statistically significant in tumor size and pT stage between the positive and negative group (p < 0.01), while there was no statistically significant in gender, age, tumor localization, pN stage, histological type, adenocarcinoma differentiation (p > 0.05). Tumor size and pT stage were independent factors associated with visual assessment at multivariate analyses (p < 0.05). SUV(max) was positively correlated with age, tumor size and pT stage, respectively (p < 0.01). There was no statistically significant of SUV(max) in gender, tumor localization, pN stage, histological type, adenocarcinoma differentiation (p > 0.05). Age, tumor size and pT stage were independent factors related to SUV(max) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor size and depth of invasion were clinicopathological parameters influencing FDG SPECT assessment in gastric cancer independently. The relationship between tumor size, depth of invasion, expression of GLUT-1 and FDG imaging should be determined by further research.